Entitled Girl in daylight this is one my first paintings after moving from Reading to King’s Cross to study at Camberwell Art College and encapsulates the impact of the cosmopolitan metropolis. At the junction of Pentonville Road and Gray’s Inn Road the Lighthouse and the Scala can be seen in the background. This picture appears on the cover of The Politics of Postmodernity by John Gibbins and Bo Reimer. PRIVATE COLLECTION
From the same period this view The Scala by night is looking east from the Pentonville Road. PRIVATE COLLECTION
Europe’s smallest crescent is thought to be Keystone Crescent which housed many of the workers who built King’s Cross station, several families to a house, in conditions which would now be illegal. It was built by my grandfathers grandfather Robert James Stuckey. This view Keystone Crescent by night is from the balcony of 18 Caledonian Road where i firs stayed in London. PRIVATE COLLECTION
At that time I had not the slightest interest in local history. After having lived in Glasgow and Amsterdam and moving back to King’s Cross slowly curiosity took hold. Which king does this crossroads belong to ? It turns out to be Kings George IV. Very few of the million’s of travellers passing through this junction know about the king in question and yet George IV’s architectural heritage is greater than any other British monarch. Visitors to London will see his influence in Buckingham Palace, the British Museum, the National Gallery, Regent’s Street, Regent’s Park and Regents Canal and many more. His influence is also strongly felt in Brighton, Windsor Castle and Edinburgh. Doesn’t he deserve a statue? Or at least a plaque? I set about designing one. Here is the first draft followed by the latest.
The first one had the three ostrich feathers, emblem of the Prince of Wales. I found online that Prince Charles had come down on some Welsh souvenir makers and thought I had better sound out his people. They said it was the exclusive emblem of the present Prince of Wales, that I was not to use it again but I could sell any artifacts already made. There are a still few mugs bearing the ostrich feathers to be found in the nearby Canal Museum . In the lastest design you can see the dates have shifted clockwise to emphasise the nearly fity years George was Prince of Wales and the shorter periods he acted as Regent then King, a decade each. The appearance is modelled on Wedgwood pottery with a light blue background and white relief sculpture based on the coinage of 1820, his coronation year.
George, being something of an eletist, had not the slightest interest in this rubbish tip, as it then was. It was not renamed in some grand state occasion but by a few property entrepreneurs in a rebranding exercise. In this chart we see what was going on in Georges lifetime, his personal life in the inner circle and national and world events in the outside circle
I still have to convince English Heritage, Network Rail and Camden Council that a plaque is a good idea. Perhaps , like Queen Victoria, they would rather sweep this rather embarassing monarch under the carpet.
Here’s another piece from my school/college days Jesus and his disciples at breakfast with typical 60s products such as Cocopops and the late lamented Daily Sketch. It also recreates bifocal vision in which all but the object of attention, Jesus, is seen double.
The following design was printed gold on black on a mug to celebrate the proximity of an eclipse and the year 2000. The span of time is shown in eleven global calendars, the solar calendars above and lunar calendars below. I think this would make a nice app where you could swipe left or right and see all the calendars running in parallel or just have them running slowly across your home page – job for Google perhaps to complement their wonderful Google Earth and Google Sky.
I find it inspiring to contemplate the solar system and wrote a song to celebrate the earth’s journey the Zodiac Song with Precession of the Equinoxes. I am joined by Ruby Hamill on vocals.
The painting Miles amongst the Angels celebrates the radical album of Miles Davis Kind of Blue, which brought back scales that were current in medieval and renaissance times. I asked the four trumpeters in Hans Memlinc’s Angelic Musicians to take five while Miles stepped in to jam with the assembled company. This painting forms part of the cover design of my book Scales , modes and chords by key signature see the for pianists page. PRICE OF PAINTING ON APPLICATION
Bob Stuckey 